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And the lines, they are a blurring. Just days after CVS Health announced that it wants to buy Aetna for $69 billion, another megadeal looks to further integrate different functions in the health care system. Optum’s proposed purchase of DaVita Medical Group means that the nation’s largest insurer…

The alarmingly high number of pediatric deaths so far during the 2017–2018 flu season reinforce the need to shift away from the traditional chicken-egg-based approach to mass production of commercial influenza vaccines, according to consultant GlobalData. The egg-based vaccines commonly induce a suboptimal…

Rapidly dividing aberrant stem cells are a major source of cancer. But a new study suggests that mature cells also play a key role in initiating cancer––a finding that could upend the way scientists think about the origin of the disease. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in…

A spate of acquisitions in the health care industry may change the way U.S. employers design their future health care strategies and alter the way individuals access health care in the future, according to a survey from the consultant Aon. On December 14, Aon asked 450 human resources leaders from large…

The FDA has approved the first direct-to-consumer test that can warn users of their increased risk of breast, ovarian, or prostate cancer, but only a small percentage of Americans can reap any benefit. The Personal Genome Service Genetic Health Risk Report for BRCA1/BRCA2 (Selected Variants), marketed…

A new treatment for the rare blood disease paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) that would cut the number of infusions needed each year by three-quarters fared well in a pivotal phase 3 study, the developer announced. ALXN1210 (Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.), an investigational long-acting C5…

A large study of cardiovascular events in gout patients taking one of two medications to prevent excess build-up of uric acid has found that one of the drugs, febuxostat (Uloric, Takeda), increased the risk of death for those with heart disease compared with the other drug, allopurinol. Yet the two…

Women face several options when it comes to birth control, so potential side effects often factor into their decision. Depression is a common concern for many women, but a new study by researchers at The Ohio State University (OSU) Wexner Medical Center is putting patients at ease. It found there’s…

The FDA is proposing a new risk-based enforcement approach to homeopathic drug products. Among the targets: products marketed for serious diseases without showing clinical benefits, products that contain potentially harmful ingredients, and products that don’t meet current good manufacturing practices.…

Researchers have found that temporarily increasing the dosage of inhaled steroids when asthma symptoms begin to worsen does not effectively prevent severe flare-ups and may be associated with slowing a child’s growth, challenging a common medical practice involving children with mild-to-moderate asthma.…

Most cases of measles in the United States occur among unvaccinated patients, according to the CDC. According to researchers, 69.5% of 1,789 measles cases in the country between 2001 and 2015 struck unvaccinated patients. The researchers note that endemic measles, defined as a transmission chain that…

A first-in-class medication being developed to treat back-of-the-eye diseases achieved positive results in the pivotal phase 3 PEACHTREE trial, the developer has announced. Among patients with macular edema associated with noninfectious uveitis, 47% of those treated every 12 weeks with suprachoroidal…

The FDA has approved the Vercise Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) System (Boston Scientific Corporation) to treat the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD), a degenerative condition that affects more than one million people in the United States and 10 million worldwide. DBS works by stimulating a targeted…

An analysis commissioned by a pharmaceutical industry trade group found that hospitals participating in the 340B Drug Discount Program have higher per-patient outpatient pharmacy costs than their non-340B counterparts––indicating patients at 340B hospitals are prescribed more medicines, more expensive…

A federal judge in New York on Monday ordered Martin Shkreli, the former drug company executive convicted of defrauding investors, to forfeit $7.36 million in assets, which could include a Picasso painting and a one-of-a-kind album by the Wu-Tang Clan. U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto in Brooklyn…